Brackets Released For NCAA Wrestling Championships
3/11/2015 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The NCAA released the brackets and announced the at-large selections on Wednesday for the 2015 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships in St. Louis, Missouri, on March 19-21.
Senior 184-pounder John Rizqallah, who is making his third straight trip to the NCAA Championships, will face third-seeded Blake Stauffer (31-1) of Arizona State in the first round. Rizqallah automatically qualified for nationals after placing 10th at last weekend's Big Ten Championships in Columbus, Ohio.
Rizqallah owns a 17-12 record and will be looking to capture All-America honors for the first time in his career. He went 2-2 at the NCAA Championships last season in his second appearance after going 0-2 in his first trip as a sophomore in 2012.
The native of Allegan, Michigan, is ranked tied for first on the team in victories (17) and led the Spartans in dual wins (10) and ranked second in dual points (33). He defeated eventual Big Ten Champion Domenic Abounader of Michigan in the dual against the Wolverines on Jan. 11 and won the Northern Iowa Open on Dec. 13. Rizqallah also placed fourth at the MSU Open and went 3-0 in the Eastern Michigan Duals.
A four-year letterwinner and team captain as a senior, Rizqallah has a career record of 74-43. He placed a career-best seventh at the Big Ten Championships as a junior last season and was named recipient of the team's Collin-Mikles Leadership Award and co-recipient of the team's Most Exciting Wrestler Award.
The NCAA announced the qualifier allocations for the 2015 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships on Feb. 26. Each qualifying tournament was awarded spots per weight class based on current year data. Each wrestler was measured on the following: Division I winning percentage; rating percentage index (RPI); and coaches ranking. For each wrestler that reached the threshold in at least two of the three categories, his qualifying tournament was awarded a qualifying spot in that weight class.
Each qualifying tournament, with automatic qualifying status, was awarded a minimum of one wrestler per weight class, which went to the tournament champion, even if they did not have any wrestlers reach at least two of the three thresholds. NCAA tournament spots for each qualifying event were awarded at the tournament based solely on place-finish.
This year, the following allocation numbers per weight class for the Big Ten were: 125 (5), 133 (12), 141 (8), 149 (7), 157 (8), 165 (8), 174 (10), 184 (10), 197 (9), and heavyweight (9). The Big Ten led all conferences with 86 automatic qualifiers; the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association was second with 43.
The NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee announced the remaining 71 at-large qualifiers on Wednesday. All 10 weight classes consist of 33 wrestlers. The at-large selections were made based on the following criteria: head-to-head competition; qualifying event placement; quality wins; results against common opponents; winning percentage; RPI; coaches ranking and the number of matches contested at that weight class.
MSU head coach Tom Minkel is serving his fourth and final year on the NCAA Wrestling Championships Committee.
NCAA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS COVERAGE
ESPN will televise all six sessions and carry every match on ESPN3. ESPN will televise the semifinals and championship finals while ESPNU will air the preliminary sessions and medal round. The entire tournament will be available on WatchESPN.
The tournament from Scottrade Center in St. Louis will begin Thursday, March 19, with the first and second sessions on ESPNU. ESPN3's individual mat feeds will allow fans to watch every match, including the wrestle-back bracket, accompanied by live commentary throughout the tournament. Additionally, for computer users, ESPN3 will once again offer multi-mat simultaneous viewing which allows fans to watch up to four different mats at one time.
Live brackets will be available at TrackWrestling.com.
Players Mentioned
